Press conference - Perth

PATRICK GORMAN, ASSISTANT MINISTER TO THE PRIME MINISTER: Before I dive into talking about Australia Day and the very exciting events we have planned for Australia Day 2023. If I can just pay tribute to one of Australia's greatest friends in Jacinda Ardern, Prime Minister of New Zealand, someone who has been a strong friend of Australia and someone who shares the values of Australia. She's shown the world over that you can lead with both empathy and strength. She earned the respect the world over, and indeed for the community here in Perth, with her leadership in the response to the atrocious Christchurch shootings in the mosque. I know that particularly for the Muslim community here in Perth, that was a moment where they really saw a friend, in Jacinda Ardern, and that friendship is something that we know that she has provided to Australia and to the world over on the issues that are important to her and her government. Today I think it's very fitting that you are seeing so many, from the Prime Minister, the Treasurer, the Premier of Western Australia and so many others paying tribute to this extraordinary leader who did so much for her country, admired by not just the 530,000 or so New Zealanders who live here in Australia, but by indeed 26 million Australians. Myself, I'm sure the Lord Mayor, and all West Australians, the Australian Government and all Australians wish her well for the exciting world of a post political life.

Now from one nation to another, we're here to talk about Australia Day 2023. This is an opportunity to announce the Australian Government's investment in 650 community events across this nation to celebrate this great country. We all love Australia. Australia is the place that we all call home and it's a place that has so much opportunity and potential for the future. And that's why the Albanese Government is investing $8.9 million in community events across this nation and $5 million in capital city events, including right here in the City of Perth. Events that make sure that we can bring Australians together around that message of reflect, respect and celebrate. Because we don't seek to shy away from the nation that we've been nor our history, but we also know that when we come together and we celebrate this great country, we can achieve so much more.

Finally, before I hand to the Lord Mayor, I just want to share some of the improvements we've made for this Australia Day. First is that we've got a continuation of an increase in the amount of investment in First Nations cultural events that are happening as part of Australia Day. Up from 36 per cent last year to 42 per cent of the events we're sponsoring have a specific First Nations component, that is something to celebrate on Australia Day. Secondly, this is going to be the accessible Australia Day. One of the things I was surprised when I became responsible for these grants was that we had the amazing work of Australian of the Year, Dylan Alcott, in advocating for greater accessibility, but we hadn't made that a requirement of our grant guidelines.

So, for that $8.9 million that we're investing in community events, the $5 million we're investing in capital city events, we have made it a requirement that every recipient of a grant shows us how they're going to make sure that it is a truly accessible event, whether that be through Auslan interpreters, accessibility improvements, making sure that we have quieter spaces for people who need some sensory downtime. I'm really proud of the way that that's been embraced by all of those grant recipients, all 414 grant recipients for 650 events. It's what Australia Day should be in 2023. Open, accessible to all. Sharing our history, reflecting on the nation that we are, and celebrating the future that we can build together. And with that, I'll hand over to the Lord Mayor P

ZEMPILAS: Thank you Minister. Thanks everybody. I just wanted to take this opportunity to thank the Federal Government and particularly Patrick Gorman, the Member for Perth, as a great friend of the City of Perth for his leadership in this space, and particularly when it comes to funding through Auspire for the City of Perth events for Australia Day. I would too like to correct the misconception that there are no events for Australia Day in the City of Perth. That could not be further from the truth. Australia Day, January 26, is all go in the City of Perth next Thursday. We will still have our fireworks display, but they have been like many things in our community, reimagined post-COVID. The event will now be a more city centric event. The best vantage point will now be at Langley Park. Events will begin from 3pm. There'll be family entertainment, 41 food trucks. There'll be lots to do, see and help you reflect, respect and celebrate. And then we will have a fireworks show transition into the drones, the new technology that everybody loves, and a big and stunning conclusion with fireworks to end what will be a really triumphant City of Light Australia Day show. We are obviously aware of community sentiment around Australia Day and a good deal of our consideration into what is the best way to reflect, respect and celebrate.

A good deal of consideration has gone into planning and giving thought to what is the best way to stage events that allow people to mark the day appropriately as they see fit. And then following on from the Assistant Minister's comments about First Nations events, we're very proud in the City of Perth to have led the way for some years now with the Birak Concert, which is a big part of our Australia Day program. The Birak Concert takes place just behind us on Supreme Court Gardens from 3pm and then the great day culminates with our City of Light Sky Show and we're very proud of the fact that we're able to bring all members of our community together. I want to thank Auspire for their significant contribution. I want to thank the State Government too, for their significant contribution through Lotterywest. And I'm very proud of the team here at the City of Perth and the events that they have put on in anticipation of what we will enjoy next Thursday. It is going be a fabulous, reimagined day of celebration, commemoration, and of appropriate respect. We're really looking forward to having a huge crowd at Langley Park to enjoy it.

JOURNALIST: The First Nation events, this one in Sydney, is that a first? Or has that been happening for some time?

GORMAN: I'm happy to be corrected, but I understand that one has been happening for some time as part of the Australia Day Live Festival that they host there at the Opera House. But what we are seeing is across the nation and I think that what I'm particularly proud of is where we've got smaller events that are happening in local communities where you are seeing an increased activity of First Nations events. And obviously as the Lord Mayor just mentioned, the Birak Concert is something that's been happening for a number of years here in Perth. But these events, be they in Sydney, Perth, Darwin, elsewhere, they just get bigger and bigger each year and we expand that national conversation about what Australia Day means about our history and about our exciting future which we all share.

JOURNALIST: Are they popular with First Nations people?

GORMAN: Well, what we see is that First Nations people want to be able to be part of the story. One of the things we say about Australia Day is that we are all part of the story, and that means making sure there is space for truth telling. Making sure there's a space for First Nations to tell the story of 65,000 years of continuous connection to this land. That is part of the story of Australia Day. I was at an event this morning with the Lord Mayor, for Auspire, as we sent off the Australian of the Year for Western Australia and we had Barry Winmar give a very beautiful Welcome to Country as part of that event. He gave a really beautiful Welcome, and shared a bit of his culture with us. And that's what I want to see with all of these events where we are sponsoring, is increased First Nations involvement. I think that's something that we can all welcome as we see the changing nature of this day.

JOURNALIST: Do you support some workplaces allowing workers to work on Australia Day and take their leave another day?

GORMAN: Workers do work on Australia Day, when you come down to those 41 food trucks, here on Langley Park, you'll see people working. The team at the City of Perth will be working to host a citizenship ceremony in the town hall to make sure that we welcome our newest citizens. We have our Border Force team in the public sector working 24/7. Our consular teams are working all the time. These are matters between employers and employees. But it's about making sure that every business and every organisation and indeed the public sector can do what they need to do to make sure that they can recognise important public holidays, but also provide the services and shops and customs and everything that Australians need, be it Australia Day or any other day.

JOURNALIST: Have you found that more Councils or communities are choosing to do their celebrations either before or after the 26th?

GORMAN: We have seen Councils take up the opportunity to host their Australia Day citizenship ceremony a day or two before or after. We have made that available for local governments. Some councils are doing that. As the Lord Mayor said, here in the City of Perth it will be on Australia Day. I know that in the City of Vincent they'll be holding theirs on the 27th of January. That flexibility is important. Everyone wants to get their citizenship, and many citizens wait many, many years to get that citizenship. But sometimes they actually want to be able to celebrate on Australia Day. So they can then go and get their citizenship down the road at the City of Vincent on the 27th. I think what we're seeing with both the event that was held this morning, the announcement that we're making today, is that it becomes sort of a week-long celebration of this great country we call Australia.

JOURNALIST: On something else, can you confirm that a WA woman has been detained in Japan?

GORMAN: I can confirm that the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade are providing consular assistance to an Australian citizen in Japan. I can't say any more than that for privacy reasons as you would understand. I have great faith in our consular officials who do so much work every day of the year helping Australians when they find themselves in difficult positions. And again I just say thank you to both our Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade and consular officials. And indeed to those teams at Border Force and so many other parts of our public sector who work Australia Day and every day to keep Australians safe.

JOURNALIST: Have you got any response about the painting that was defaced with a Woodside logo here in WA?

GORMAN: I love our cultural institutions and Perth is home to some of the great cultural institutions of Australia. Anyone who goes and destroys priceless artwork is not doing their cause any good at all. I support peaceful protest, but this is destroying assets owned by the Australian people and assets owned by Western Australians. I think they have done themselves a great disservice. I am sure the police will be involved in making sure that any applicable laws are applied to them. There's no place for this. It doesn't bring people together. It doesn't make your point heard. And it's completely disrespectful to not just that piece of artwork, it's completely disrespectful to artists in general. If artists are scared that their artwork might be destroyed as part of a political protest to which they are not a party, then you are not a supporter of the arts. You are not a supporter of a kind, caring, compassionate society. And I was just seeing that as I was walking over here, it is just so disappointing.

ZEMPILAS: Just on that particular issue and obviously Boola Bardip is within the City of Perth, we have, our City has, a truly great institution, a truly great museum. There are lots of ways in our great democracy that you can protest lawfully, but to protest unlawfully in that manner has no place. That sort of behaviour has no place within our community. And I know that the people of Perth will be rightly outraged with what they have seen.

JOURNALIST: In terms of the Australia Day celebrations, the drone show, is that going to be the same provider as the previous show?

ZEMPILAS: It is the same provider and we're well aware of what happened in the two drone shows that took place in November over the area just out in front of Elizabeth Quay. The Saturday show in November was flawless and the Sunday show ran into some technical issues. The drone providers since then have had a number of other shows and they have reported to us that those shows have been faultless. They have run exactly as they were intended, as did the Saturday program on our double header weekend back in November. So we are entirely confident that whatever glitches were in their system have been ironed out. We are anticipating the maximum number of drones will stay in the sky and that the huge crowd that will be on Langley Park will get a brilliant show of fireworks and drone show combination to rival anything they've seen on Australia Day previously.

JOURNALIST: Have you kept up to date on how that recovery of those drones has been?

ZEMPILAS: So I do speak to the drone providers, as does our staff at the City of Perth. That has been an ongoing exercise. I realise I don't know the number of drones that have been recovered, but I do know that they have done everything that they are required to do and supposed to do in those retrieval efforts. We also know that that was quite an expensive exercise for them and to lose those drones because of the technical issues that befell them on that particular day has not been a cheap exercise for them. However, they are committed to flying within the rules. As we know, there's a reason why those rules have very specific exclusion zones, and that is so that if anything goes wrong, there is no damage done to any humans. So we're really confident, given that they've run a number of shows since and they've done an exhausting number of tests, and thoroughly gone into the processes that led to that, that we won't have any problems on Australia Day. We're very confident that they will be able to provide exactly the sort of show that we've become used to seeing.

JOURNALIST: Do you have an estimate of how many people are expected to attend the drone show?

ZEMPILAS: Langley Park has a capacity up to 100,000 people, and I expect Langley Park will be packed on January 26. We know that despite the conversations that are taking place in our community at the moment, and they are conversations that should be taking place, that's what mature and advancing communities do. They discuss their issues and they work through the conversations. But we know that there are lots of people that want to come together as families and as friends to respectfully mark Australia Day. So I expect Langley Park will be absolutely full. And what we do know is that we have refocused our efforts to make this a city event. It will exist in front of Langley Park. That's the best place to see the fireworks and the drones. It's also the best place to hear the soundtrack that accompanies the drones and the fireworks. So I'm anticipating Langley Park on Australia Day, from about 3 p.m. when the entertainment activities commence, will be full. We know that a lot of people have already expressed a strong interest and desire to come together, to reflect, to respect and to celebrate what is our great national day.

JOURNALIST: Do you think some people will be disappointed with the changes or that they might not be able to see it from the foreshore?

ZEMPILAS: Look, everything changes, develops, evolves, and there are new ways of doing lots of things. For example, I'm involved in Telethon, and Telethon has changed and evolved and moved venues over the years and people understand that is the natural evolution of something that our community holds dear. And I think the same applies to the City of Light show. Fireworks are a huge component of it still, and they will remain a huge component of it. But we know people love the drone technology. We know the drones enable us to tell a different story to the one that fireworks enable us to tell. And so bringing those two great forms of entertainment together is something we're really proud to be able to do. This is a different show to what we have seen, but it still includes the favourite elements, the music, the fireworks, the big crescendo, the great Australian songs, remembering the great Australian moments. But also it includes the new technology that we know people have embraced. So we're very excited to show off our new form of City of Light show and I am very confident that people are going to embrace it and love it.

JOURNALIST: Do you think this will be an annual thing?

ZEMPILAS: There's no doubt, and I am on record as saying, the City of Perth, while I am Lord Mayor, will always hold events to enable people to show respect, to reflect and to celebrate our great national day. And so we have every intention of January 26 putting on those events to enable those in our community who want to come together to be able to come together. And certainly this year is no different.

JOURNALIST: Do you have any problem with workers deciding to work on that day rather than taking a day of leave?

ZEMPILAS: It's a different sort of question, as the Assistant Minister has pointed out for us, because many of our staff are involved and working on Australia Day to put on the great array of events that will take place throughout our community and here in the City of Perth. Personally, it's a public holiday. It's a day for Australians to come together. And I would like to see as many Australians as possible take advantage of the public holiday to be able to reflect, respect and celebrate as is appropriate. I think a national day, the intention of a national day is to bring our country together, not to push people apart. And I would like to see as many Australians come together as is possible. That's what the public holiday is for, to give people the opportunity to come together respectfully. And that's what I'm hoping for in the City of Perth on January 26.

GORMAN: Thanks everyone.